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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Blackwood (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Blackwood. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northwest corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the west. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the west contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Blackwood is located in Orange County.

To see how the shape of North Carolina's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Orange County: Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham & Person.

Below are the counties that are near Blackwood. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Blackwood:

  • Orange County     (The home county of Blackwood)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.
    • Manor Hill
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Manor Hill is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor Hill
    • Stoneridge
      (Less than 2 miles to the east)
      • Stoneridge is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stoneridge
    • New Hope
      (Less than 2 miles to the north)
      • New Hope is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Hope
    • Walnut Cove
      (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
      • Walnut Cove is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Walnut Cove
    • Eubanks
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Northwood
      (Less than 2 miles to the south)
      • Northwood is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northwood
    • University Acres
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • University Acres is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Acres
    • Carolwoods
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Carolwoods is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carolwoods
    • Cedar Hill
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Cedar Hill is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Hill
    • Timberlyne
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Timberlyne is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Timberlyne
    • Ashley Forest
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Ashley Forest is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ashley Forest
    • Lake Ellen
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
      • Lake Ellen is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Ellen
    • Oak Hills
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Oak Hills is located in Orange County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Hills
  • Alamance County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.
    • Brook Hollow
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Brook Hollow is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brook Hollow
    • Buena Vista Estates
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Buena Vista Estates is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buena Vista Estates
    • Mebane
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Stagecoach Trail
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
      • Stagecoach Trail is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stagecoach Trail
    • Hawfields
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Florence Town
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Florence Town is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence Town
    • Woodlawn
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Woodlawn is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodlawn
    • Eli Whitney
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Eli Whitney is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eli Whitney
    • Mandale
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
      • Mandale is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mandale
    • Melville
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
      • Melville is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Melville
    • Saxapahaw
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Sutphin
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Sutphin is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sutphin
    • Cooper Estates
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
      • Cooper Estates is located in Alamance County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper Estates
  • Caswell County
  • Chatham County
  • Durham County
  • Franklin County
    • Wake Forest
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the east)
  • Granville County
  • Guilford County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.
    • Gibsonville
      (27 miles [43.5 km] to the west)
    • Whitsett
      (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
  • Lee County
  • Person County
  • Randolph County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.
    • Staley
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Liberty
      (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
  • Wake County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.
    • Hazelwood
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Hazelwood is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazelwood
    • Dutchess Village
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Dutchess Village is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dutchess Village
    • Apex
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Apex is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apex
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 64,388 people
      • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apex <1>
    • Indian Trail
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Indian Trail is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Trail
    • Pickwick Village
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
      • Pickwick Village is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickwick Village
    • New Hill
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
    • Meredith Townes
      (23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)
      • Meredith Townes is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meredith Townes
    • Woodbury Village
      (24 miles [38.6 km] to the southeast)
      • Woodbury Village is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodbury Village
    • Stony Hill
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Glenwood Village
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
      • Glenwood Village is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glenwood Village
    • Method
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Fairmont
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
      • Fairmont is located in Wake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fairmont
    • Holly Springs
      (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Blackwood, see our County-by-County Page for Blackwood.

Cemeteries Near Blackwood ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Blackwood.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Blackwood - one of the links might be able to help.

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Blackwood covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Blackwood had a post office and no railroad service.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Blackwood, with the one closest to Blackwood listed first.

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Blackwood. See our List of 1890's Communities around Blackwood.

Newspapers Published in Blackwood ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 44 newspapers that have been published in the area around Blackwood.

Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Blackwood, there are papers which were published within 9 miles [14.5 km]<2>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Blackwood.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we first visit the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Blackwood:

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Blackwood) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Blackwood, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.